PURCELL: Dido and Aeneas.(Review)

[] Dawson, Joshua, Kiehr, Bickley; Finley, Visse, Wallace, Blaze, Bowen; Clare College Chapel Choir, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Jacobs. Texts and translations. Harmonia Mundi HMC 901683

Dido and Aeneas, like Mozart's Die Zauberflote, is one of those rare operas blessed with several thoroughly satisfying recordings. One's initial response, then, to Harmonia Mundi's latest entry into this already crowded field is: why? Why release yet another version of Purcell's admittedly fascinating score when listeners already can choose from splendid renditions led by Nicholas McGegan, William Christie and Trevor Pinnock, to name only a few?

The answer, it turns out, is that Harmonia Mundi's producers know a good thing -- in this case, a very good thing -- when they hear one. From the grand, assertive phrasing of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in the overture's opening measures to the hushed, poignant conclusion of the chorus's lament for the dead queen, this performance of Purcell's masterwork is simply riveting. Vivid in characterization, striking an exemplary balance between, on the one hand, the opera's surreal variety of tone and mood, and on the other, the ceremony befitting a courtly entertainment, this Dido easily holds its own in the proud company of currently available recordings.

Chief among its strengths is Lynne Dawson as the ill-fated Queen ...